RECOGNISING PAST & PRESENT DTC MEMBERS

As the Defence Technology Community (DTC) celebrates its 50th Anniversary, a commemorative book series titled Engineering Singapore's Defence The Early Days will be launched by President Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam at the DTC50 dinner to be held on 7 Nov. At the same event, the 2016 Defence Technology Prize (DTP) winners will also be recognised for their significant technological contributions to the defence capability of Singapore.

The DTC book series, consisting of four books, details the ways DTC has developed and contributed both to Singapore's defence industry and nation-building, through largely unheard stories of the scientists and engineers involved.

Each of the books focuses on a different theme. The first book, titled Engineering Land Systems, highlights the challenges faced when developing defence technology for the Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF's) use, and the importance of logistics and engineering in enhancing the SAF's capabilities.

The second book, titled Engineering Our Navy, documents the journey that the Republic of Singapore Navy has gone through to upgrade its engineering capabilities so as to use it as a force multiplier to better defend Singapore's shores. The first two books will be unveiled on 7 Nov and made available on the Ministry of Defence website by end November. The other two, titled Aviation Engineering and Engineering Systems-of-Systems will be released by end February 2017.

On the idea behind the series, Co-editor and former Chief Defence Scientist Professor Quek Tong Boon said: "We're writing this book series because over the years, many of the defence organisations have written a book about themselves. Therefore, we decided to come together to write about DTC, as a whole, to give the public a big picture on how each organisation contributes to Singapore's defence."

Professor Quek also hopes that the books will leave a lasting impact on the generations to come. "We just want to take this opportunity to share and pass on our experiences and knowledge to the next generation."

Preparation for the book series started in May 2014, and the editorial team was formed in mid-2015 with Professor Quek and Professor Lui Pao Chuen also a former Chief Defence Scientist as the co-editors. In total, 45 former and current members of the DTC, SAF, and Singapore Technologies companies contributed to the book series.

For one of the DTP winners, the getting to be at the forefront of technology was inspiration enough. Mr Chan Hian Lim, the Director of the Sensors Division of DSO National Laboratories said: "Back in 1993, when I was a third-year undergraduate, I got the opportunity to (be an) intern at DSO for my internship project on Synthetic Aperture Radar signal processing. I was so inspired and amazed by how complicated electromagnetic waves could be processed to produce a ground picture that I decided to join DSO right after I graduated."

Elaborated the Individual (Engineering) award winner: "I wanted to be the one of the best in the field, and I wanted to use my innovative thinking and engineering leadership to improve this technology,".

With this mindset, Mr Chan worked in the same field for 22 years to hone his skills and widen his knowledge. "One of my guiding mottos for my work is to never be satisfied, and always want to change things for the better. I think this can be applied in a greater context for Singapore too."

For fellow DTP winner Tan Bing Wen, his inspiration to join the Defence Science & Technology Agency comes from his joy of overcoming challenging situations. "With the evolution of technology, Singapore's defence has to keep pace with new and emerging threats such as terrorism. Therefore I hope that what I do will keep Singapore safe."

The Team (Engineering) award recipient was part of the Island Air Defence Programme Team which worked on a complex web of sensors and weapon systems to improve Singapore's response to aerial threats.

"As a defence engineer, I will continue to strive to come up with new innovative defensive ideas to overcome Singapore's unique constraints as a small nation, and ensure that the SAF remains a strong and formidable fighting force."

The DTC50 commemorative initiatives also include the SGDefence Exhibition held at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre Hall A from 4 to 8 Nov. The exhibition showcased the establishment of DTC and how it developed into its current state.